| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: of the warriors of some savage potentate upon whose royal
caprice his fate would hinge.
They had marched for perhaps half an hour when the
Englishman saw ahead of them, in a little clearing upon the
bank of the river, the thatched roofs of native huts showing
above a crude but strong palisade; and presently he was
ushered into a village street where he was immediately sur-
rounded by a throng of women and children and warriors.
Here he was soon the center of an excited mob whose intent
seemed to be to dispatch him as quickly as possible. The
women were more venomous than the men, striking and
Tarzan the Untamed |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: The curious cave
mouths, near which the odd formations seemed most abundant, presented
another albeit a lesser puzzle because of their regularity of
outline. They were, as Lake’s bulletin had said, often approximately
square or semicircular; as if the natural orifices had been shaped
to greater symmetry by some magic hand. Their numerousness and
wide distribution were remarkable, and suggested that the whole
region was honeycombed with tunnels dissolved out of limestone
strata. Such glimpses as we secured did not extend far within
the caverns, but we saw that they were apparently clear of stalactites
and stalagmites. Outside, those parts of the mountain slopes adjoining
At the Mountains of Madness |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore by Charles Kingsley: on to some cleaner heap, and leave these, the great Lutraria
Elliptica, which have been lying buried by thousands in the sandy
mud, each with the point of its long siphon above the surface,
sucking in and driving out again the salt water on which it feeds,
till last night's ground-swell shifted the sea-bottom, and drove
them up hither to perish helpless, but not useless, on the beach.
See, close by is another shell bed, quite as large, but comely
enough to please any eye. What a variety of forms and colours are
there, amid the purple and olive wreaths of wrack, and bladder-
weed, and tangle (ore-weed, as they call it in the south), and the
delicate green ribbons of the Zostera (the only English flowering
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: that. Here's the man."
He carried more lilies still, another whole tray.
"Bank them up, just inside the door, on both sides of the porch, please,"
said Mrs. Sheridan. "Don't you agree, Laura?"
"Oh, I do, mother."
In the drawing-room Meg, Jose and good little Hans had at last succeeded in
moving the piano.
"Now, if we put this chesterfield against the wall and move everything out
of the room except the chairs, don't you think?"
"Quite."
"Hans, move these tables into the smoking-room, and bring a sweeper to take
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